How long could a prime Patterson have held the title hostage in the late 70s?

If we replaced Spinks from the first Ali fight with a prime Floyd Patterson (circa Moore vintage, maybe slightly later), how long could he have kept the title with maximum D'Amato ducking shenanigans?

(Assuming he gets past late 70s Ali the first time, I suppose.)

 

Fight Ali
Rematch Ali
Give Young a title shot when he's on the downslide (claim that you believe he was robbed against Norton, and beat Foreman, so you don't need to face either of them.) You might have enough goodwill left at that point to offer Leon Spinks a shot, which Patterson did in real life with Rademacher, and Ali did with Spinks. So the public may be willing to swallow that nonsense once.

After that, it's a growing murderer's row of punchers. An old Shavers may not be your best shot even in 78 or 79, since almost nobody managed to avoid getting hurt by him. Maybe he'd buy you enough time to get into the 80s, tho, with an Ingo style duology or, if unlucky, trilogy. (With return clauses and Shavers getting older each time; if he beats you the first time, you get at least one more shot. Beat him in the rematch and deny him the rubber match if necessary.)

At that point, you are in serious danger of facing and losing to Holmes. If you're very lucky, the butterfly effect loses Holmes the fight vs Norton, and you face an older Norton. But you're probably losing this one if you're up against Holmes.

No problem. Vacate the belts for the IBF, and defend against novices (Marvis Frazier) and boxers who lack power. Holmes can whine and complain from his perch atop the more legit belts, but you do you.

Besides, if Holmes is forced to defend regularly by a more legit belt, the other titles will probably suffer from the real life musical chairs effect, magnified by adding Holmes into the rotation. Maybe occasionally pick off a contender who fought for one or more of the belts, but who is declining due to cocaine use and lacks power.

With luck, and considering Patterson's real life longevity, you might even last long enough to cash out your lineal title against Tyson.

EDIT: You may even be able to put off the inevitable for longer with a third Ali fight. The public loved the guy, he could promote a fight, and they were absolutely desperate to believe that he could pull it off *just this one more time*, every time. Just try to take it easy on him if you have a Berbick/Holmes situation on your hands. (Insist on a rematch clause in case your scheme backfires and you are too merciful for your own good. Heck, maybe you can stretch it into a quadrilogy if you lose the third one due to kid gloves.)